In Search of Identity and Spirituality in the Fiction of American Jewish Female Authors at the Turn of the 21st Century. Dorota Mihulka
by Rabbi Salomon Schechter since 1902, the status of the agunah (‘deserted wife,’ or ‘chained woman’), equal participation of women in ritual, and the ordination of women does confirm its willingness to change and expand the position and role of Jewish women within the halakhic framework. Nevertheless, one must not forget that egalitarianism has not been universally embraced by the movement and there are still certain Jewish legal issues which have not been resolved, the most important being the inadmissibility of women as witnesses in Jewish legal matters and the issue of intermarriage. The future will show whether and how the Conservative movement will resolve the above-mentioned problems as well as cope with the persistent decline in membership. It has to be emphasized, though, that one serious and controversial issue facing the Conservative movement since the 1970s, namely the religious status of homosexuals, was finally resolved at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Since 2007 LGBT students have been admitted to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) in New York, and since 2012 homosexual marriages have been accepted by the Conservative movement (“Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ Issues: Conservative Judaism”).
1.2.3 Women in Reconstructionist Judaism
Unlike Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism is an American-born Jewish movement which was initiated in the early decades of the twentieth century, and has experienced significant growth since the 1970s when it broke away from the Conservative Movement, constituting a separate and distinct denomination. Following the teachings and writings of Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, who is regarded as the father of Reconstructionist Judaism, Reconstructionists define Judaism not only as a static, unchanging religious system, but as the evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people, complete with its own language, music, art, and culture (Kaplan, 2001: 178). Based on that definition, Reconstructionists “seek to understand the historical contexts in which Jewish beliefs and practices emerged and changed, and to adapt and reinvigorate those ideas and practices in the lives of contemporary Jews” (Staub, 2005: 4: 2247). It was this conviction that enabled Kaplan to advocate changes and make innovations in women’s roles in Jewish life as well as embrace philosophies, such as democracy, which had previously been overlooked in the Jewish tradition.
Theologically, Reconstructionism explains that Judaism grew out of the social and historical experiences of the Jewish people, emphasizing the evolving nature of Judaism, as Jews adapt its rituals and customs to their own lives in the modern world. It does not insist upon a belief in a supernatural God, divine intervention, ←38 | 39→Jews as the Chosen People,15 the Messiah, transcendent revelation, or the binding nature of any of its tenets (Unterman, 1997: 165–166). Moreover, it values personal autonomy and the individual’s right to choose, over Jewish law and theology.
Reconstructionist Judaism has been an egalitarian tradition from the start thanks to Rabbi Kaplan’s loyal commitment to democratic principles and the full equality of women in Judaism. The Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ), a synagogue founded in 1922 by Kaplan, did guarantee mixed seating for men and women in worship services from the outset. In addition to introducing mixed seating into his congregation, Jewish women were included in the minyan and allowed to come up to the Torah for aliyot as early as the mid-1940s, but it was not until the late 1960s that major changes were introduced in the Reconstructionist Movement. Jewish women themselves, under the influence of second-wave feminism, began to demand changes, finding Reconstructionism a movement conducive to their viewpoints. The greatest change occurred in 1974 when Sandy Eisenberg Sasso became the first woman ordained from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, only two years after the ordination of the first woman rabbi ever in the history of American Judaism. The next important change took place in 1980 when the movement finally resolved the agunah issue which had turned out to be so problematic for the Conservative and Orthodox movements. It did so by creating egalitarian marriage documents and by declaring that either spouse could initiate divorce on the grounds that Halakhah was considered not binding. In this way, Jewish women would no longer be dependent on their husbands to grant them a divorce (Schwartz, 2006: 553).
Reconstructionist Judaism is truly egalitarian with respect to gender roles, ordaining not only women but also members of marginal groups such as gays and lesbians, and including them in every aspect of Jewish life. In 2015 the Reconstructionist Movement introduced another ground-breaking change, namely it allowed the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College to accept rabbinical students in interfaith relationships, making Reconstructionism the first branch of Judaism to officially approve of rabbis in relationships with non-Jews (Hostein, 2015).
Inspired by Kaplan’s views and unencumbered by a dedication to Halakhah, Reconstructionist Judaism has been at the forefront of developing creative rituals that give voice to Jewish women’s experiences. Most of the focus was on women’s life-cycle events, previously not celebrated religiously, such as childbirth, heterosexual weddings and lesbian commitment ceremonies, divorces, conversions, and the onset of menarche and menopause. The Reconstructionist women rabbis have also contributed to the promotion of gender-neutral language about God and to the creation of new liturgical forms that agree with feminist ideas. Moreover, in 1993, ←39 | 40→Reconstructionist rabbis passed a resolution recognizing and supporting rabbis’ participation in the same-gender commitment ceremonies. As far as intermarriage is concerned, it is estimated that about half of Reconstructionist rabbis will officiate at an intermarriage, but they are free not to do so (cf. Alpert, 1998: 1134; Schwartz, 2006: 553; Karesh and Hurvitz, 2006: 418).
Although statistically, Reconstructionist Judaism is the smallest Jewish denomination in the United States, comprising approximately 1 percent of American Jews (“A Portrait of Jewish Americans,” 2013: 48), its ideas were so widespread that they profoundly influenced the religious views of many Conservative rabbis in the 1950s and 1960s. Moreover, it pioneered many innovations that other denominations have adopted, including the introduction of the first bat mitzvah ceremony in Jewish history in 1922. Most importantly, however, the movement has played a significant role in creating an environment of equality for women in Judaism. Although Reconstructionism and its philosophy have undergone numerous changes since Kaplan’s death in 1982, women’s equality still remains its core principle and its distinctive feature.
1.2.4 Women in Orthodox Judaism
Orthodoxy – derived from the Greek term orth doxa, meaning ‘right doctrine’ – is a Jewish religious movement that advocates the full observance of Halakhah, interpreted in traditional ways, and is critical of modernity and its values. Because of this, Orthodox Judaism has resisted modern pressures to modify its observance and has preserved such practices as daily worship, kashrut, traditional prayers and ceremonies, regular and intensive study of the Torah, and separation of men and women in the synagogue. It also commands strict observance of the Sabbath and religious festivals and does not permit instrumental music during communal services (“Orthodox Judaism”).
In its adherence to the laws, customs, social patterns, and beliefs of the ancestors, Orthodoxy portrays itself as the faithful continuation of traditional Jewish society. In many ways, however, Orthodoxy should be regarded as a movement of the modern era, whose birth occurred at the end of the eighteenth century, as a direct reaction to the challenges presented by Reform Judaism, secularization, and assimilation in Western and Central Europe. The term was first used in a Jewish context in 1795 and today is applied to those Jews who do not share the modernist beliefs of Conservative or Reform Judaism (Unterman, 1997: 150–151).
Orthodox theology accepts the literal interpretation of traditional doctrines, such as the election of Israel, divine providence, reward and punishment in the world-to-come, and the future coming of the Messiah. The belief system of Orthodox Judaism rests on the idea that Torah in its entirety was handed down from God to Moses at Mount Sinai. The majority of Jews who consider themselves Orthodox accept divine source of the Written Law (the Torah) and the Oral Law (codified in the Mishna and interpreted in the Talmud), and their eternal, unchanging nature. Perceiving the law as a divine revelation and a direct expression of God’s will, ←40 | 41→Orthodox Judaism refuses to narrow down the Halakhah to historical, sociological, or psychological foundations. Unlike Conservative Judaism,